Laura Anders looked up with a sigh of relief as the door opened and her Grandpa entered, weighed down with shopping bags. She jumped up to help him, casting a longing glance out at the sunlit lawn as he closed the door behind him. She wished she could run outside and lie down on the lawn, stare up at the sky until everything faded away.

But it wouldn't fade away. Gran was dying, and there was nothing she or Grandpa or Dad or anyone could do about it.

"How is she?" said Grandpa, putting the food away in the kitchen cupboards. "Has she said anything?"

"Not really." The fever had really taken hold during the last few days, and Gran's periods of lucidity were getting fewer. "She talked for a while, but I couldn't really make it out. I think she was praying."

The only word Laura had caught was Apollo. He was one of Gran's patron gods, one of the two idols in her household shrine. Laura could remember Gran showing them to her when she was younger and telling her their story; Artemis the huntress and her twin Apollo, lord of the sun and healing.

The idols were by Gran's bed now – they'd moved the shrine there when she became too weak to move. She liked to have them close, to hold in her hands when she made her sunset prayer. Gran never missed that prayer, whatever else was going on.

Laura had often drifted off to sleep to the sound of that prayer, the list of names of the dead whom Gran prayed the Lords of Kobol to watch over. It was a long list, but then it would be. Gran had lived through the destruction of the twelve colonies and the terrible escape from the Cylons – she'd lost more people than Laura could imagine.

It suddenly struck Laura with the force of a blow that she would never hear that prayer again now. Never hear that list of names, long forgotten by anyone except Gran, and now lost to everyone. She choked on a sob.

Her Grandpa heard and came over to her, putting an arm round her and making her sit down on the sofa.

"Are you all right?" His face creased worriedly. "I shouldn't have left you alone with her, you're too young-"

"I'm sixteen!" said Laura, affronted, and he grinned.

"I forgot. Practically a pensioner."

Laura giggled and the terrible pressure of tears receded for the moment. At least Grandpa Helo would still be here after Gran had gone.

He wasn't really her Grandpa, in fact. Her real grandfather was Gran's first husband, the pyramid player. There was a picture of him on the mantelpiece, showing him and Gran after their wedding on the doomed settlement of new Caprica. He was tall, handsome, confident. Gran was obviously teasing him about something, and he was looking back down at her with a good-humoured grin.

He looked like a nice guy, and he had been brave, too – Gran used to tell her the stories, how he fought in the resistance on old Caprica, after the bombs fell. Laura often wished she had known him, but he had died a long time ago, when her father was only a baby - shot down by the Cylons after they occupied New Caprica. He hadn't survived a second Cylon invasion.

Laura felt sad when she thought about it, but she had Grandpa Helo, and as far as she was concerned he was the best Grandpa she could ever have wished for. He was full of jokes and stories and always had a lollipop in his pocket for her. Now that she was older, she had found that he was easy to talk to, especially for things she couldn't talk to her parents about. Grandpa didn't judge; he just listened, and only gave advice if asked. It was usually good advice, too.

The phone rang and Grandpa answered it.

"That was Cally Tyrol, she collected your Gran's prescription for me." He put on his jacket. "I'll just pop over and pick it up – it'll only take me five minutes. Are you all right to stay with her?"

Laura rolled her eyes at him. "I'll be fine, Grandpa. Dad will be here to pick me up soon anyway."

He headed off and Laura moved back to sit by the bedside. It hurt to see Gran lying there so still. Until she became ill, Laura had never realised just how old she was. She was always so vital, brimming with energy, arguing and laughing, the pivot around which the whole family revolved.

The house smelled different now, too. No smell of oil paint as Gran worked on her latest picture, face scowling in fierce concentration, utterly oblivious to anything else. No smell of burning food as her latest culinary experiment failed and she kicked the oven door in frustration. No smell of cigar smoke as she winked at Laura and told Dad as he protested that if the habit hadn't killed her yet it wasn't going to, then dealt another triad card.

Now the house smelled of disinfectant, because Gran wasn't around to cover it up, to make the house messy and lived in again.

Suddenly Gran jerked in the bed beside her. She started to mutter, trails of words that Laura could barely catch and made no sense when she did. She shifted restlessly under Laura's hands as Laura tried to tuck her in, to calm her down.

Then suddenly she sat bolt upright, eyes staring desperately at something only she could see.

Laura was scared. She'd never seen her this bad before. She grasped one shoulder.

"Gran, you have to lie down."

Of course Gran ignored her. She was never one for doing what she was told unless she wanted to.

She began to shake violently, and then her mouth opened and she said one word.

"Lee!"

Laura tried to push her down, but without success. She looked at the door, hoping desperately Grandpa would walk through it. She couldn't deal with this.

Gran's hand fastened on hers with surprising force, fingers digging painfully into Laura's skin. Her eyes were still fixed on the empty space at the end of the bed.

"Lee!" she said again. "Lee, don't leave me! Lee!"

And then the sudden manic energy sapped out of her, and she slumped against Laura like a puppet with the strings cut.

Shuddering with relief, Laura tucked her back in, and then Grandpa and Dad arrived within minutes of each other and she could pass the responsibility over.

She watched Dad fuss agitatedly over Gran, while Grandpa calmly phoned the doctor, and all the while her brain was turning.

Who is Lee?